https://www.mdu.se/

Tracking interactional phenomena over a long period of time to document change of discursive practices has been a methodological challenge for applied linguists. Researchers who have explored language learning (e.g. Pekarek Doehler 2018) and professional development (e.g. Nguyen 2018) over time have fuelled the birth of a new methodology called longitudinal conversation analysis (Deppermann & Pekarek Doehler 2021). Yet, conversation analysts shied away from integrating interviews and other discursive data into investigations of interactional and professional development, due to methodological and epistemological concerns. Closing the doors to alternative perspectives can, however, become a barrier to innovation, especially when we consider that discursive events are complex and go beyond locally-situated performances of professionals (e.g. teaching in classrooms). Driven by the need to understand the complex discursive dynamics of professional development in settings where digital tools assist knowledge co-construction, this presentation will propose a novice methodological approach, Discursive Timeline Analysis (DTA), which draws on complementary tools of multimodal conversation analysis (e.g. Mondada 2018) and interactional ethnography (Green et al. 2020). DTA tracks behavioural change over time through a systematic analysis of discursive practices (e.g. classroom interactions, collegial dialogues, reflective text and talk). In this presentation, I will illustrate how I navigated the limitations of MCA and IE when they are used in isolation. The study draws upon video recordings of classrooms in upper secondary classrooms in Sweden, performance analytics from a video-tagging app, interviews with teachers and mentors, stimulated recall data, and written reflections of student teachers. I will explicate the processes and decisions involved in the analyses of teachers’ change of classroom interactional practices over time when they use digital tools for reflection and feedback. Methodological shortcomings and potentials will be discussed, and implications for using this method in other areas of applied linguistics will be given.

Keywords: longitudinal research; conversation analysis; interactional ethnography; professional development; digital tools; reflective practice

References

Deppermann, A., & Pekarek Doehler, S. (2021). Longitudinal conversation analysis-introduction to the special issue. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 54(2), 127-141.

Green, J.L., Baker, W.D., Chian, M.M., Vanderhoof, C., Hooper, L., Kelly, G.J., Skukauskaite, A., & Kalainoff, M.Z. (2020). Studying the over-time construction of knowledge in educational settings: A microethnographic discourse analysis approach. Review of Research in Education, 4, 161–194. 

Mondada, L. (2018). Multiple temporalities of language and body in interaction: Challenges 

for transcribing multimodality, Research on Language and Social Interaction, 51(1), 85-106.

Pekarek Doehler, S. (2018). Elaborations on L2 interactional competence: The development of L2 grammar-for-interaction. Classroom Discourse, 9(1), 3-24.

thi Nguyen, H. (2018). A Longitudinal Perspective on Turn Design: From Role-Plays to Workplace Patient Consultations. In: Pekarek Doehler, S., Wagner, J., González-Martínez, E. (eds) Longitudinal Studies on the Organization of Social Interaction. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57007-9_7